Pause
by Avelona-and-Sally
Summary: The problem with skills running in the family was that sometimes, even if you weren't suited to things, you were a natural. "Welcome to Konoha's Covert Operations Headquarters. Your training will begin immediately." AU. NaruHina.
1. Chapter 1

"_Ms. Blossom. What a lovely surprise," the man smiled pleasantly as she closed his office door behind her. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"_

_The woman fiddled with the clear rod hanging from the blinds near his office door until the cubicles outside were hidden from view. The man's smile widened in anticipation. She leaned back against the door, her hand turning the lock at the knob, then kicked off her shoes, the heels keeping fairly close to her body in the process._

"_Everyone's gone?" he questioned._

"_Only Shikamaru is left, and after he finishes printing out the address of whatever restaurant it is his wife wanted to go to tonight, he'll leave," she assured him, her hands coming to grasp his face and make her mouth meet his. She enjoyed the way her bright lipstick rubbed off on his face; like she was staining him._

"_Hm," the man said, undoing the cuffs of his shirt behind her, "That man's as lazy as they come. He'll be out of here soon."_

"_Really?" the woman asked, surprised, "I liked him."_

"_You can never mix business with pleasure," the man said, then laughed a little at the irony of his statement._

_Her lips quirked up, "Hey. Wanna try something?" She undid his tie._

[-M-]

"_Are you _done_ yet?"_

"_Yes, yes, I'm _done," _Sakura said irritably, unlocking the door and letting Shikamaru in, not bothering to cover herself as she was still in her underwear, anyway, and she knew he wouldn't make a big deal out of it, even if the sight of her see-through panties made him blush._

"_Alright, Mr. Hasami," Shikamaru said while his teammate resumed getting dressed, "We're going to need your cooperation on this. As you are aware, there was a big meeting today. During this meeting, three cases were exchanged. Two came from this corporation. Another from your competitor, Hyuuga Enterprises. We're going to need you to give us that case."_

"_Before you think to yell," Sakura chipped in, removing a syringe from her handbag, "I'm going to point out that this is not the _only _thing we have to make sure you behave."_

"_So," Shikamaru said with an amiable gesture, "Please begin."_

[-M-]

"_Fuck! Can these shitheads _be _any _faster?"_a blonde man said, jumping up to grab hold of a fire escape ladder and pulling himself up to climb out of reach._

"_And can you _be_ any louder?" his accomplice asked from below him, "Shouting at the top of your lungs doesn't help us escape!"_

"_You're shouting just as loud as me!"_

"_Am not!"_

"There they are!"

"_See? You got us caught!"_

"_It wasn't _me, _you _moron!"

"_Wait – where's the case?"_

_Without waiting for their pursuers to figure it out, the two men scrambled up the fire escape until they were on the roof. Unable to resist from taunting them, the blond man leaned far over the edge and pulled a face, then rolled away quickly as the sound of shots came from below._

"_Come _on," _his companion barked with an eyeroll, grabbing his teammate by the collar and making sure he was watching before running at a dead sprint towards the opposite edge of the building, leaping, and landing with a painful roll on the neighboring building. He waited until his friend did the same, the other man's extra training helping him to land on the balls of his feet, then moved quickly over to the door sticking out of the apartment building's roof._

_It was another round of traded insults before the blonde man had managed to unlock the building's door and they ran inside, taking the stairs two at a time while changing; flipping the jackets of their tuxedos inside-out, messing up hair that had been slicked back, ditching bowties for the open-collar look and yanking carefully-tucked shirts out of their pants, unbuttoning them and scrunching the visible cloth to look even more informal._

_The race down the stairs stilled at around the second floor, where they paused to catch their breath._

"_They'll be – everywhere – now," the brown-haired man said in between gasps._

"_Good thing we don't exist anymore, then," his friend replied, taking out a mirror and removing the contact lenses that had made his eyes appear gray previously. He blinked in distaste at the uncomfortable sensation of putting a hand (he tried not to think about the fire escape, railings, and - oh, _no – _lock-picking tool that had been in _Kiba's _pocket. Probably along with a used chew toy of his dog's) in his eye._

_Shaking his head to clear the disgusting thoughts, he pulled a small make-up kit out of his jacket pocket and smiled at his companion, "Time to make you look pretty!"_

"_Oh, sure," his friend replied, closing his eyes and tilting his head back so his more experienced friend could get better access, "You're the one who actually _knows_ how to make someone up and _I_ get the gay jokes."_

[-M-]

_The man shifted, resisting the urge to look at his phone and check to see what his bugs had picked up. His 'blind man' disguise – one of the only ways to get away with bringing a dog into an establishment, as well as explain away his wearing sunglasses at night – wouldn't be worth much if he was caught looking at his cell phone like he could see what it showed._

_Although…_

_He pulled an earpiece out of his pocket – giving the dog a smile for his whine; he'd probably thought it was a treat – and fixed it into place. And immediately rolled his eyes at Kiba's line._

"Shut up or I'll give you a mole,"_ Naruto replied._

"Wait," _Kiba said. The sound of rustling cloth filled his bug's mike._

"Good idea," _Naruto's voice came, _"They won't think anything of it if two drunks come stumbling out."

_The sound of skin being patted came through and the man imagined his teammates were rubbing the scent of alcohol all over themselves to give some legitimacy to the story should they be seen by someone on the street._

"Well, off we go,"_ came the blonde man's voice, and the sound of the two of them stumbling down stairs came through the line._

_Shino quickly removed the microphone from his ear, making sure his gaze stayed on the table – and, consequently, on the case Akamaru had brought over as soon as his owner had given it to him. A waitress came over with a smile (idly, he mused that it would've been wasted on a blind man, regardless) and asked him if he'd like anything to drink._

"_I am waiting for two friends, too," he said, "Both will have a coffee."_

"_And for you?"_

"_Water, thank you."_

"_Alright. I'll be right out with those." With an indulgent pet to Akamaru, who sniffed at her inquisitively, she spun around and headed off to spray herself with sanitizer and tend to another table's orders._

_Another twenty minutes had two smirking men sitting in front of him, smelling like they'd been drinking since sundown. Akamaru whined and put his nose under Shino's coat to try and block out the smell. Naruto pulled a tiny bottle of cologne out and spritzed himself, then handing it over to Kiba. The smell became slightly more tolerable, though the dog still didn't want to pull his head out of Shino's jacket._

"_Excellent. Coffee," Naruto smiled at the waitress, who wrinkled her nose at the strong smell of alcohol and now cologne, but still attempted a smile. Taking pity on her, Naruto refrained from making any more conversation. Instead, he turned to Shino. "So, we got it?"_

"_Yes," the 'blind' man nodded at the case, "We just need to make it back to headquarters."_

"_I can call a car," Kiba said, eager to stop being the source of his dog's whining._

[-M-]

"_Hi, I'm Ino," the woman slid her hand daintily into the grip of her teammate, who, as per usual, didn't so much as blink._

"_It is nice to meet you. I'm Neji. This is my cousin Hinata," he gestured to the woman at his side, who smiled uncertainly and exchanged a handshake with the beautiful blonde._

_Ino gave her a kind smile, then turned to the man who'd gotten her attention in the first place, "I've heard a lot about you from Hiashi," her tone became more coy, "He says you're the most valuable worker in the program."_

"_I do what I can," the Hyuuga said, trying hard to ignore his cousin's discomfort. Not only was she watching her father's much younger date flirt with her cousin, she was also listening to her sing his praises. It couldn't be helping her inferiority complex._

"_You wouldn't mind letting me have a dance?" Ino said with a beguiling smile, placing a diamond-studded hand on her hip._

_Neji turned to Hinata, who quickly stuttered out, "Not at all! Please – enjoy the evening!" and turned to find the closest wall she could lean against and dissuade others from asking her to dance._

_With a small sigh at the heiress' meek behavior, he took Ino by the hand and led her onto the floor, then began an unimpressive waltz._

"_What did you want to tell me?" the woman asked._

"_There are three guards stationed where they are visible. One of the cases has already been retrieved by Naruto and Kiba."_

"_Excellent," Ino said, twirling, "That leaves just the one. Any doorway will work?"_

"_The one leading up to the hotel rooms is the fastest one. It has a guard shift in half an hour."_

"_Dingy, suspect hotel hallway it is," the woman said with a sigh. "I call distracting Hiashi."_

"_I have no wish to be the one with that job," her partner said with a sniff, and led her away from the floor._

[-M-]

Hinata sighed, getting up from her comfortable chair and moving to leave the party. Making conversation with people was one thing – her cousin and her father's cold dispositions made her seem like the epitome of warmth to the people wanting to congratulate the Hyuuga on their new deal with the Hisami Corps. – but watching her father's arm candy constantly stroke his chest (and ego) was another. Ino was beautiful, charming and knew exactly what to say to guests. And Hinata just couldn't figure out why she made her so on edge.

Maybe it was just the way there seemed to be an electric charge over the party tonight. Everyone was moving – the security guards seemed to be dancing around, talking hurriedly in hushed tones into microphones attached to their collars, smiling reassuringly whenever she approached one with a question. Even Neji seemed more cold than usual, talking on his cell phone more than discussing deals with other companies' branches and giving the entire room shifty glances every twenty minutes.

Speaking of…

Her cousin gave another look around the room before slipping quietly past an ignorant guard. Feeling a strange sensation on her neck, like she was being watched, Hinata turned to meet eyes with her father's date. Ino quickly turned to Hiashi with a hundred-watt smile gracing her face.

Something was definitely wrong.

Hinata followed her cousin, flashing a badge at the security guard who stepped aside to let her pass. She was just in time to see her cousin turn the corner. Slipping off her heels, Hinata tiptoed after him, turning two corners, then pressing herself against a wall to keep her shadow from showing up along with his on the wall opposite her.

"Mr. Hyuuga, I'm sorry, but you aren't authorized to – " there was nothing after that, just the sound of a body slumping over.

Hinata covered her mouth and prayed she wasn't going to see her cousin standing over a body when she turned the corner.

No such luck.

Quickly, she turned before she could be caught and moved to alert the guard past whom she'd walked earlier that _something_ was going on.

But she couldn't.

Because there was an arm holding her hands behind her back and another hand held against her throat in a form she recognized from the self-defense classes her father had her take. Hitting the Adam's apple could do anything from shock to kill a man. She wasn't sure about the statistics for women, but she didn't think they would be all that different. Neji was going to end her life.

But then Ino came around the corner, and her eyes narrowed, and she pulled a syringe out of the little sparkly purse she'd been carrying with her and injected something into Hinata's arm.

And then the world went black.

…

…

A/N: Wanna review?


	2. Chapter 2

" – And _you're_ an idiot. Everyone knows the first movie's always the best."

"I'm just saying that if the second movie had just been part of the first book, everyone would like it just as much as the first. You're just saying that because you want to sound cool." A pause. "It makes you look stupid."

"_What'd you say, bastard?"_

"_You two, _if you don't shut the hell up _now, _are going to be finding yourselves in very intimate positions with my _syringe."_

Two voices, together: "Sorry, Ino."

Hinata fluttered her eyes open, woozy at how everything seemed to leave a copy of itself behind when she moved her head. Very, _very_ slowly, she sat up, her body supplying her with information. She was in her dress, her hairstyle's clips had pretty much become a permanent part of her skull, her hands were together in handcuffs, tied behind a pole, there was duct tape on her mouth, and she was sitting on several blankets and pillows. Her shoes and bag were placed neatly beside the arrangement, close enough that she could get them if she reached with her feet.

The room was lit with a large fluorescent light swinging overhead, not making the room any more homey. It was dingy, clearly a locker room – the closed shelves lining the walls gave it away – and was filled with unpleasantly stale air. It definitely didn't make her feel any better.

"Oh, _look,_ she's waking up!"

A nauseating blur of pale yellow and in front of her crouched Ino Yamanaka, brushing long hair bangs behind one ear and putting a cool hand on Hinata's forehead. "How're you feeling?"

_Sick,_ Hinata wanted to say, but the tape across her mouth prevented her from doing so.

"Not too good, huh?" the woman nodded sympathetically, "We'll untie you and get that tape off of you if you promise you won't make any noise or try to run anywhere. Just so you know, we can stop you _and _that awful feeling will get worse. This was just a precaution." The blonde gestured at the cuffs and tape; Hinata didn't look at the hand. She didn't want to vomit while her mouth was covered.

"Damn, she looks like she's gonna be sick." Another blonde, a man, with hair much brighter and sunnier than Ino's came up behind her and shot her a concerned look. "I'll go get a bucket."

"Ew," said the last member of the room, though his face was sympathetic to her plight and didn't seem to reflect the statement, which appeared only to have been said as an attempt to irritate the other male.

A plastic bucket was placed near her and Ino quickly had her out of the cuffs and able to gag in peace. The Hyuuga heiress remained crouched painfully over the plastic pail for several minutes, eventually able to stop convulsing and spitting green saliva, and rested her head on the cool, gray rim. Almost immediately, though, it was taken away, placed close enough she could reach it but not close enough to smell.

The blonde man shot her a smile, "Wouldn't want you to feel sicker."

Ino continued fussing over her silently, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, touching her forehead, hissing at the guys to shut up and go do something productive. The brown-haired one, having been introduced as Kiba, left the room soon enough to go see where Neji was, and the other one settled down on the floor next to the woman who was her father's date tonight to keep making sure she was okay. Or to keep up the pretense that he was making sure she was okay. It still felt nice, even if it was kinda weird.

"It'd probably be better if your cousin explained it," Ino said with a tender smile, "He knows you better. But you just know that we're working _for_ Hyuuga Enterprises and not against it, okay? He wouldn't work against it."

The blonde man – Naruto – nodded and gave her a reassuring smile, "He's pretty much devoted his life to it."

Hinata didn't give a very good effort to acknowledge them. Of course her cousin had devoted his life to Hyuuga Enterprises. That much was obvious, both in his actions and her father's opinion of him. But his actions from the hotel didn't add up – what would he need with the file from Hasami Corps? It also didn't explain why she was in what seemed to be a hostage situation. Something similar had happened when she was three, but she couldn't remember why and it probably wasn't related. Her family was still poor then, and no-one talked about it anymore.

She shook her head to brush the errant thoughts away, instantly regretting the notion. The blonde man immediately placed the bucket back into her hands and she retched into it a few times before breathing shakily. Ino got up for something, maybe to fetch a mint, leaving her with the man.

He gave her another smile, "I know how it feels – first time I got injected with that stuff, I barfed for a day."

She gave him an incredulous look, then braced herself for more coughing. Instead, a loud, long burp came up. Hinata seriously considered drowning herself in her own vomit.

He laughed, "Wow! I think you beat my record!" Another smile and a reassuring pat on the back. She gave him a shaky smile in return, praying she didn't vomit in the middle of it.

Then Neji came in, his clothes the most informal she'd ever seen him in. Modern, torn jeans, and a T-shirt. She could've mistaken him for some other, younger member of her family, had he not been wearing the stone-face all her family members (except for her, clearly) wore and had a gun at his belt.

"Hinata." He said as a greeting, then flinched as she bent over the bucket. "I'm sorry this happened to you." She didn't look at him, preferring the only clean side of her bucket to his guilt. "I…am tempted to put the explanation off until you are feeling better."

To her surprise, the blond man next to her snorted, "Like hell, Neji! Poor girl's confused, worried and _sick_ because of Anko's stupid poison; you'd _better_ tell her what's going on."

Hinata looked up at her cousin, unsure if his pained expression was because – Naruto, yes? Naruto – had addressed him so informally or because of what he'd said. And had he said _poison?_ Judging by her state, yes, and probably the non-lethal kind, but didn't the word merit a reaction of some sort? Apparently not, since Neji just continued.

"Hyuuga Enterprises is, as you may have guessed, part of something much bigger. It's one of the most important parts of Konoha's Covert Operations, which I am, as you also may have guessed, a member of." Neji sat down, crossing his legs and continuing serenely, as if what he was saying wasn't making her feel sick…er. "The deal with Hisami Corps. was never going to be honored. Their inquiries were hitting too close to home, so KCO staged a theft of all three cases, and left Hisami without any real information of ours."

Naruto gave her a big smile, "Your cousin wouldn't betray the Hyuuga. He's got a huge stick up his ass, but he's not a traitor."

Neji twitched, but didn't dignify that with a response. Hinata quickly set the bucket aside, gripping the blankets tightly. Her cousin, used to this behavior, readied his hands.

The blonde panicked. "What's wrong?!"

She gave him a helpless look, "I think I'm going to f-faint."

[-M-]

When she regained consciousness, she was being carried by her cousin down a hallway similar to the locker-room-type place she was in last. Naruto wasn't anywhere to be found. Contrary to popular belief, the Hyuuga _were_ human, and the warmth given by his torso and arms was comforting. Better than when he ever tried to comfort her. She wished the Hyuuga aversion to touch wasn't so present all the time.

"Neji," she said, staring up at his stoic face. The fluorescent lights didn't make it any more welcoming. Surprisingly, when he looked at her however, she could feel some concern. Perhaps it was the years of having to interpret the Hyuuga's expressions. "Why didn't Dad tell me?"

Small pause. "You have a very kind disposition, Hinata. This job requires the exact opposite. Your work for the enterprise was very good. Knowing about all this wouldn't have helped you."

"What _is_ this?"

"Everything. Any job the Fire Country needs done in secret."

"And the Hyuuga a-are waist-deep in it?"

"No." Another pause. "They're completely underwater."

"How – ?"

"Hyuuga supplies the some of the materials, money and most of the connections. The party was an excellent distraction for workers to withhold curiosity about the documents. Had the original plan to apprehend Mr. Hasami not changed, he would've joined later in the evening."

"A…apprehend?" Hinata asked quietly.

Neji stopped and set her down. A moment of getting used to the feeling of standing – someone had put her shoes back on for her – and she was walking down the hallway with the white-eyed man. "Sakura Haruno – you may have met her – was in charge of pulling as much information out of Hasami as possible. Most undercover operations for women, especially reconnaissance, involve sex." She didn't mean to sound like…well, anything, really, but hearing her cousin say 'sex' was weird. "She wanted to, to quote Ino, 'go out with a bang.'"

"M-meaning?"

"She bound him, waved a syringe in his face, and with the help of Shikamaru recovered the file we handed over to Hisami Corps."

"He's not…um…is he?"

"He hasn't been harmed, apart from possibly being very, _very _wary of any secretary willing to mix business with pleasure in the future. It might have made the theft more suspicious."

Hinata flinched at the cool tone used. Not just Neji – she'd met both Sakura and Shikamaru during her the meeting. Shikamaru hadn't spoken much, only arriving to remind Sakura and Hinata the break was almost over, but the two women had engaged in a rather long talk. About Sakura's possible promotion, about how much she was looking forward to the party that evening and if Hinata had any idea about what other guests would be wearing, about how she sorta wished she had a boyfriend and Sakura was one cheater away from becoming a lesbian. She may as well have been talking over a bar counter, actually, and this woman had been keeping a whole chest of secrets underneath the pretty smile.

Much to her surprise, Hinata didn't feel upset, she felt _angry._ Being angry with Sakura was hardly logical – she pushed past it. Being angry with Neji was a good deal more sensible, actually, as he'd been as close to her as her sister (who, now that she thought about it, would be getting an _earful_ when she got home. They'd _lived together_ and Hanabi thought it was okay to keep a secret like this?!) and hand said a goddamn thing. Her father was also on her blacklist – who was _he _to decide if her disposition would be a handicap or not? She was _just as good_ as Neji and Hanabi at the defense, and sometimes…

Sometimes, Hinata felt she was better. On the weekends, when she sparred with Neji, she could usually get him onto the mat with a maximum of eight moves. Her sister in six. She hadn't lost a match since her achievement of the highest rank possible in their family's signature martial art, assuming that was the only advanced style being used, and even her hard-to-please father had praised her for her mastery. _Several_ times.

She _knew_ what she was doing. She wouldn't go so far as to say she knew better than Neji or Hanabi – there was obviously more to them than she'd thought – but as far as her skill level went against people who _weren't _part of Covert Operations anywhere, she was fairly sure she could hold her own.

"How could you keep this from me?" she choked out.

"Your father believed – "

"Not him, n-not why," Hinata cut him off. "Y-you. How?"

Neji was silent, his steps becoming slower. "I…didn't think you were suited for it, either. I still don't think so. You're good at Gentle Fist, but if another advanced style is brought into the mix, you get flustered. A harsh tone is usually enough to make you unsure. That's not the kind of attitude that helps in this line of work."

"I-in _marketing?"_ she said, her biting tone making up for the stutter.

"In assassination," Neji replied, his tone becoming colder to match her anger. "Hostage negotiations, seduction, theft from maximum-security buildings, interrogation, reconnaissance. These things aren't _marketing,_ Hinata, and you're the only Hyuuga who hasn't done at least one."

She flinched again, face burning and eyes watering a bit. She did her best to blink the tears away and keep her mascara from giving it away. To her surprise, her cousin stopped her and proceeded to wrap his arms around her. His hair ticked her nose when she put her head on his shoulder.

"You're not inadequate, Hinata. Your father, Hanabi and I – we all thought you were a pretty good you. Perhaps too meek, but it was a good contrast." He sighed and stepped away, leaving her staring at him in confusion, bemusement blooming on her face. "But the secret's out now and the head's managed to dig up your Gentle Fist prowess now that your name's all over the system."

"W-what do you mean?"

"You're now a part of KCO. Your training will begin immediately."


	3. Chapter 3

The woman in charge of all of this was called Tsunade, and she was an alcoholic, as well as a compulsive gambler. Hinata's first impression of her was that she was loud, irritable, and very quick to hit things – her desk, the wall, the man named Jiraiya (whom Hinata had learned was in charge of the extensive information network). The other thing she noticed was that her punches were _dangerous._ They left long, messy cracks in both the wood and the wall. The intel. head, when punched, flew several feet away and sported a small arrangement of eyes, a lump resembling a nose and a small opening containing teeth and tongue on the large expanse of _bruise_ that was his face afterwards.

Her second impression was gathered a week into her training, and it was that the woman was brilliant. Hinata could, for the life of her, not figure out why the woman wasn't working at a hospital. Soon enough, it was apparent she was. Only it was the headquarters' hospital, and the patients often came in with bullet wounds, poisonings and all sorts of other injuries reminiscent of explosions, falls, and long interrogation sessions. However, Tsunade wasn't her actual 'teacher.'

The woman procured for the first of her training was called Kurenai. She had to be the most beautiful woman Hinata had ever met – long hair, long eyelashes, big breasts, small waist, dainty fingers, long legs, the whole she-bang when it came to the traditional woman. The first thing Kurenai did was convince her she was a man.

Then that she was actually from the Middle East, and that her identical twin brother had been separated from her at birth, that their father was a famous scientist who had discovered evidence of another race before the Egyptians, that Elvis had had an affair with her grandmother –

– Then Hinata started to see the point behind all the lies. She'd been with Kurenai up until the Elvis thing, actually, and nothing the woman had said had ever made her think she was lying until there. As far as she knew, Kurenai explained, all of it was true. Even the Elvis thing. Did Hinata have proof? No, and that made her doubt. Kurenai's job was to get her coming up with entire life stories if a stranger so much as said 'bless you'. The first few lessons had gone an awful lot like

"_Hi, I'm Hinata."_

"_Hello, Hinata. Has anyone ever told you, you look a lot like that girl in the papers – Hinata Hyuuga! Oh, same name, too! What a coincidence…"_

"_Hi, I'm Yukari."_

"_Hello, Yukari. Has anyone ever told you, you look a lot like that girl in the papers – Hinata Hyuuga! Say, what's your last name?"_

"_Hi, I'm Yukari Tenzaki."_

"_Hello, Yukari. Has anyone ever told you, you look a lot like that girl in the papers – Hinata Hyuuga! Say, are you related? Do you work at Hyuuga Enterprises?"_

"_No."_

"_Where do you work?"_

And it only got worse from there. Kurenai had her talking about how much she missed a dog she'd never owned, how she'd been staying with her sister these last few weeks and how her nonexistent nephew was teething, how much she found redheads with large breasts attractive, and any number of uncharacteristic things Hinata had never dreamed of _dreaming_ about, much less lying through her teeth to an orphaned Middle Eastern transvestite about.

She wanted to say Kurenai was the worst one. There were about seventeen others, however, that each deserved their turn in the limelight.

Whereas Kurenai was the one she met with most often for training, Sakura was the one she hung out with most often afterwards. Or, rather, Sakura had, after hearing Hinata's life story, grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her out of the establishment – perhaps adequately labeled a military training facility, located several miles outside the city of Konoha – and into an ice cream shop, dumping her into a booth and returning with two large cups of mint-chocolate gelato. And so began a friendship that eventually came to include Ino, the psyche-specialist, and Ten-Ten, a weapons master and, more importantly, her cousin's _girlfriend!_ The pink-haired medic also made sure to introduce her to the guys: Shikamaru – trap- and binding-expert, and soon-to-be head strategist – Shino – technology whiz – and Kiba, Chouji and Naruto – the heavy artillery.

Kurenai didn't slack in introducing her to the other instructors and senior agents, either. There was Kakashi, Asuma and Gai, who were all somewhere in between _really_-high-ranking and high-ranking-enough-to-pass-on-what-they-knew-and-not-accidentally-kill-anyone, a few less intimidating ones who taught _very_ basic martial arts and other skills (the only one of whom she knew was Iruka), and the ruling experts in each field, also the parents of the young people she met recently. Tsume Inuzuka shared Kiba's features and affinity for dogs, Shikaku Nara was the current head strategist, Akimichi Chouza was right behind him in command of the aforementioned 'heavy artillery', and Inoichi Yamanaka was the head of Torture & Interrogation (which she still couldn't believe existed; that part of the building wasn't even on her map).

Those were only the people she recognized. There was a whole sea of faces and names after those, and, honestly, she could barely keep the ones presented to her straight – she'd forgotten to include Jiraiya in the tally, damn it, and Tsunade's assistant Shizune, and she was fairly sure there was another list of names given to her in a file to remember – Uchiha Sokka, or something, a drag queen named Oroshimaro, or something, and an honest-to-God _bingo book_ of people who'd killed people who worked for them or seemed to be planning to. Or something.

And then there was her family. The Hyuuga, with their stony faces and stilted words, had never before seemed so untrustworthy. Sure, they were uncomfortable to be around and criticized her a lot and tended to forget to inform her when meeting times were switched around, leaving her to stumble in, usually carrying her heels like an idiot instead of wearing them because of the running she'd done to get there, but they were _family_ and she'd made _bonds_ with them. Or she thought she had. She'd loved encouraging her sister to try out for the speech team instead of debate in school, and taking dance lessons with Neji when neither really wanted to, and discussing stock market fluctuations with her father over lunch. They were family. Maybe she smiled a bit in photos when the rest of them looked like they'd drunk bitter tea first, but she had the same eyes as any of them, and could toss them all when it came to the Gentle Fist, and she really, truly, had a niche.

It hurt her that she couldn't bring herself to meet Hanabi's eyes in the corridors. Standard training was executed in teams of three, and Hanabi's training was just finishing up, and she should've been cheering her on like a good older sister, but every time she wanted to say something, it came out all cold and polite, like every other thing the Hyuuga ever said and so not _her_ that Hanabi would turn her face down (which _certainly_ wasn't _Hanabi)_ and reply that everything was progressing smoothly, honored sister, but she really must be going.

Neji was tolerating both unsure looks from her _and_ glares from nearly every other person their age in the building, since, apparently, the ignorant heiress of the Hyuuga was an angel, and how could he keep something so dear to their family, to their _lives,_ from her, who worked her ass off to bring the money that the Hyuuga provided to the operation? Her father, Hiashi, on the other hand, had somewhat of a reputation for being a stone-cold fish, and was thus not the target of any more animosity than usual, the only difference now being an occasional 'bastard' being placed before or after his name when he was mentioned in her presence. She couldn't really bring herself to make them stop.

[-M-]

Four against one was most certainly _not_ fair.

She would've felt better about herself if the four she was facing weren't all twelve.

KCO accepted children from the country into the system at age six, slowly building them up to a black belt-level in some form of martial arts, then giving them a few psychological evaluations, standard tests, physical exams and the like and then shipping them off to instructors like Iruka, who finally explained what all of this was, and imparted on them even _more_ knowledge to take with them onto the next level. Then, after passing finals at age eleven-twelve, they were presented to their instructors (some examples of which were Asuma, Gai, Kakashi and Kurenai-the-orphaned-Middle-Eastern-transvestite), and were on their way to deciding their specialty and becoming agents in the service of the Fire Country.

Most of the children came from families that had already been or were currently in service, like her new friends, which meant that when they got home from a long day of training, they had parents to feed them, ask them about their day, and then make them go train more. Six years of non-stop practice made these twelve-year-olds _lethal._ To avoid relapsing into her inferiority complex, Hinata had to remind herself nearly every day that she kicked ass at Gentle Fist, and that her hair was exceptionally soft.

She did a backflip to avoid to perfectly synchronized punches from two of the three boys, then tripped over the outstretched leg of the third, grasped the clumsily-held _(ooh, look,_ evidence she was _learning)_ paintball pistol in the hands of the girl, and shot her quickly in the back. It was messy and _far_ too risky on a regular mission to kill someone without knowing who they were, but she was fighting four-against-one and needed every edge she could get. The tiny blue paintball left a messy stain on the girl's shirt and she left to take care of it, officially dead.

The gun only had one shot from the start, so Hinata discarded it and leapt back in to the fray, her elbow colliding with the temple of one boy and knocking him unconscious, then pushing his dead weight onto a third. Unfortunately, this one _wasn't_ his teammate and had no qualms about letting the kid crumple like a piece of paper and just stepped around him, grasped her ankle in one inhumanly fluid motion and had her on her back. She rolled to get away, jumping up and taking a few steps back, keeping her eyes on her opponent.

His eyes shifting to look at something behind her was the only warning she got before pain erupted on her head. She whirled around and caught the boy, staring at her with her abandoned gun like she was a mythical creature (either he did it wrong, or she was hard-headed; that hit with the barrel of the gun should've knocked her out), with a swift punch to the throat, leaving him gasping, then took the gun from his limp hand and moved back to the cat-boy. Lesson learned: don't ever just _leave_ something for your opponent to use.

He charged, coming at her, fully intent on using hand-to-hand, but _this_ was where she had him beat, definitely. She moved around and flipped backwards to give herself some space, time to think, and a stretch before it came down to the final battle. She slipped into her Gentle Fist stance like putting on a comfortable jacket and stayed there, waiting. He moved.

And, suddenly, it was like the world _froze._ Or time slowed. _Something._

She could see exactly where she needed to hit, like the room had darkened but that spot was glowing. Behind the knees: bring him down, grab left hand and use it for leverage: his fingers on that hand weren't responding as quickly as his others, knee to the solar plexus: the game was hers. Time bent to her will and in the span of two-point-oh-five seconds, the kid was down, with the wind knocked out of him. Achievement unlocked!

Kurenai came over, an odd expression on her face that may have been satisfaction, but actually looked more like, could it be? Pride? The woman passed her, her water bottle and began listing her mistakes, no shooting so early in a fight – it's noisy, deaths draw attention, it's not a quick-fix, etc – don't _ever_ abandon a weapon – but she'd probably gotten that – and best of all, _good job, Hinata._

Hinata felt the pleasure of success envelop her like a hug. Yes, she'd used Gentle Fist, but a few other things, too, and she'd just taken out four other opponents, and her head hurt more than she'd ever remembered it hurting before, but it felt _great._

"I think," Kurenai said with an encouraging tilt of the lips, "It's time to prepare you for your first mission."


End file.
